BOSTON — As expected, Tim Thomas will not start tonight against Pittsburgh at TD Garden.

Head coach Claude Julien announced Marty Turco as the starter with Anton Khudobin, just recalled from the Providence farm club, as tonight’s backup. However, Julien said Thomas is not shut down for the rest of the regular season and will play again before the playoffs open next week.

•Torey Krug, who was signed last month as a free agent out of Michigan State, will make his NHL debut tonight. Part of Krug’s deal with the Bruins was that he got to join the parent club instead of Providence. Julien has now had a week to watch the 5-foot-9 Krug practice with the team.

“I think everybody keeps talking about his size, but what I see is a guy who moves extremely well, passes the puck extremely well and seems to have real good vision,” said Julien. “There are a lot of guys in this league that play that position, even [Pittsburgh’s Kris] Letang isn’t an overly big player. And this guy here, when they say he’s 5-foot-9, he’s a pretty strong individual. You look at him, he’s pretty solid and to me he has a lot of qualities we’ve been looking for, so it’s an opportunity for him to play and to enjoy it and for us to see what he’s all about. It will be a great experience for him, and it will be good for us to evaluate him as well to see how far he is in his progression to be an NHL player.”

•Expect Khudobin to get a start in one of Boston’s final two games, as Tuukka Rask’s availability to be Thomas’ backup is still up in the air. Julien said that Rask is progressing positively. Khudobin missed the chance to get called up when Rask initially got hurt because the P-Bruins puck-stopper was also injured.

•Jordan Caron was the only missing Bruins player at the game-day skate. Julien said the rookie was kept away from the team because of flu-like symptoms. Gregory Campbell, who missed the game against the New York Rangers Sunday, is scheduled to be back in the lineup.

•Adam McQuaid is scheduled to miss his third straight game as he recovers from an eye injury. Julien said McQuaid could go if he had to play, but the Bruins are being cautious with the defenseman.

“Every day’s been getting better and better,” said McQuaid, who was injured on a hit by Jason Chimera of Washington Thursday. “The last couple days there’s been a big difference in my eye, just the swelling. So it was swollen shut there, so it’s coming around good.”